MARKET PREVIEW: Another earnings glut

Earnings will rule again Wednesday, as the markets absorb the good, bad and the ugly news. Amazon's earnings are on deck. Asian markets were mixed, Europe moved up, and the Dow is set to open slightly lower.

U.S.

After bouncing back again Tuesday, techs are counting on more quarterly reports to sustain their gains. While investors await results from Amazon.com Inc.(Nasdaq: AMZN) due out after Wednesday's market close, they'll be busy evaluating last night's earnings.

eBay Inc.(Nasdaq: EBAY) should garner some positive attention after it doubled earnings forecasts and announced a 2-for-1 stock split, as should telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp. (NYSE: NT), which also beat estimates. Compaq Computer Corp.(NYSE: CPQ) reported flat revenue, and things may get ugly for Drkoop.com (Nasdaq: KOOP); the company warned late Tuesday that its first-quarter loss would be far deeper than expected.

Other reports slated for release Wednesday will come from Nextel Communications (Nasdaq: NXTL), NCR Corp. (NYSE: NCR), MediaOne (NYSE: UMG) and CheckFree Holdings (Nasdaq: CKFR).

On the economic front, a report on durable goods orders is expected to have risen 2 percent in March, compared with a 2.7 percent decline in February.

Expect the following technology stocks to be among Wednesday's most actively traded issues: BMC Software, eBay, JDS Uniphase, PeopleSoft and Quantum HDD.

Technology stocks made sharp gains Tuesday as the Nasdaq composite moved up 229 points to 3,711.26. The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 219 points to close at 11,124.82.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 9 points lower. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was down 1.2 points to 1488 at 7:40 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was up 32 to 490.53.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.76 percent to 18,134, Singapore's Strait Times index gained 2.02 percent to 2,108 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.99 percent to 15,227.

Europe

European markets were moving up. London's FTSE 100 gained 0.12 percent to 6,290. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 2.10 percent to 6,453 and the Xetra DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.82 percent to 7,413 at 6:54 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.